Get the Chopsticks + Marrow Newsletter

La Cevicheria’s 97th St. Special is a Peruvian Knockout

My new favorite summertime ceviche features quinoa and Peruvian potatoes.

Lately I’ve been having a streak of bad ceviche luck. Not the really bad kind that involves shivering, sweating, and praying for death, but rather the kind where the fish is either chewy or has clearly been cooked using heat and and then bathed with lime juice afterwards. So that’s why I decided to pay a visit to La Cevicheria, which never disappoints, plus it has the added bonus of being just steps away from the beach in Rockaway.

Usually I go for the ceviche mixto but this time around, I opted for something called the 97th Street Special ($17). It’s a tower of ceviche mixto atop Peruvian potatoes and quinoa. I’m not much of a quinoa guy but the combination of everything—Boston scrod, salmon, shrimp and calamari—and the gorgeous marinade created by Ximena Yrala was simply lovely. The dish wasn’t her creation though. It came about because one of the other vendors asked her to create something using quinoa and potatoes.

Yrala says she doens’t eat ceviche at most restaurants because many cooks use ajinomoto, as she calls MSG. I’m starting to feel the same way about ceviche at other spots as well. Guess I’ll be taking another trip to Rockaway Beach in the very near future.